DENVER WANTS TO SOAR IN A SOVIET SPACESHIP

Singer John Denver, negotiating with the Soviet Union about a possible ride into orbit aboard a Russian spaceship, visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Tuesday to get an astronaut-style physical examination."He has come here to get a pre-flight physical, the NASA pre-flight physical," said an agency spokesman. "He had some discussions with the (State Department) regarding his plans to fly as a private citizen.

"The State Department posed no objections to his proceeding as a private citizen and suggested he might want to contact NASA."

Denver, who in the past has lobbied for a ride on the U.S. space shuttle, says he was approached by the Soviets about a possible flight, presumably aboard a Soyuz capsule to the orbiting Mir space station.